THE leakiest roof in all Vermont Is what is called the sky, And he who lets his tools "stand out" Will soon have tools to buy: Besides, he'll get the stoney stare From every motoring eye. I never fully understood This housing things outdoors; A wagon pole will warp a foot Each time it up and pours, And hail will dent the reddest paint On any make of mowers. A right good reaper sticking up Through drabbly drifts of snow, Or standing 'round behind the barn, There where the burdocks grow, Will make no summer boarders come Nor debt-collectors go. I'm told by them that used to own The Farm Machinery Trust, There isn't any rust on earth Like this "exposure" rust; 'Twill eat a tedder right in two And turn a plow to dust. The clutch inside a horserake hub Abhors a winter fog; The cutterbar that has no home Is pretty apt to clog; The man who won't unload his "bobs" Will some day want a log. A stoneboat, even, won't improve "Laid up" on some old ledge; No apple tree can give a scythe A carborundum edge; A beetle doesn't like the woods And neither does a wedge. Depreciation is a thing We folks are slow to learn, Though stopping it is such a short And easy way to earn; The wheel that's kept in good repair Jest finds it fun to turn. I'm not a-scolding—not a bit, But now that fashion chides All forms of wetness, let us save Our tools as well as hides, And keep our farming implements As dry as our insides. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ST. FRANCIS EINSTEIN OF THE DAFFODILS (FIRST VERSION) by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS ELEGY ON MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by WILLIAM BASSE A COURT LADY by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING FIVE EYES by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE WITCHCRAFT BY A PICTURE by JOHN DONNE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD by ALFRED JOYCE KILMER ITYLUS by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE |